ORDER ON PROSECUTIONíS MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION OF PRIOR MOTION FOR VARIATION OF LENGTH OF PRE-TRIAL BRIEF

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The Office of the Prosecutor:

Ms. Susan L. Somers

Counsel for the Accused:

Mr. Branko Lukic

I, Wolfgang Schomburg, Judge of the International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991 ("International Tribunal"),

HAVING BEEN DESIGNATED pre-trial Judge in the present matter by the "Order Appointing a Pre-Trial Judge" issued by Trial Chamber II of the International Tribunal on 28 November 2001,

BEING SEIZED OF the "Prosecutionís Motion for Reconsideration of Prior Motion of Variation of Length of Pre-Trial Brief" filed by the Office of the Prosecutor ("Prosecution") on 11 January 2002 ("Motion"), wherein the Prosecution seeks a reconsideration by this Trial Chamber of an existing decision by the Trial Chamber formerly seized of this case on a similar motion filed by the Prosecution pursuant to Rule 73 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the International Tribunal ("Rules") and seeks authorisation from this Chamber to file a pre-trial brief of a length of more than 50 but less than 100 pages, exclusive of annexes;

NOTING the Practice Direction on the Length of Briefs and Motions issued on 19 January 2001 by the President of the International Tribunal;

NOTING that the previous Trial Chamber denied a similar motion of the Prosecution in its decision issued on 14 November 2001, on the ground that that motion did not show the existence of exceptional circumstances that would require an oversized filing;

CONSIDERING the exchanges between the parties made during a meeting held on 8 January 2002 pursuant to Rule 65ter of the Rules, at which the Defence did not object to the Prosecutionís intention to file an oversized pre-trial brief;

CONSIDERING that the Motion proposes to provide in greater details "specific sources of authority with regard to witnesses and documents in the factual part of the brief", which will benefit the Trial Chamber in its preparation and conduct of the trial;

CONSIDERING that such information will also benefit the Defence in its preparation for the trial;

PURSUANT TO Rule 65ter of the Rules,

HEREBYVACATE the decision of the previous Trial Chamber dated 14 November 2001, GRANT the Motion to the effect that the Prosecution may file the final version of its pre-trial brief with a length of more than 50 but less than 100 pages, and EXTEND this treatment to the Defence should it deem it necessary to have similar enlargement of the size of its pre-trial brief.

Done in English and French, the English text being authoritative.

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Wolfgang Schomburg
Pre-Trial Judge

Dated this fifteenth day of January 2002
At The Hague,
The Netherlands